LeechFest

This month we're talking about malaria! This episode is quite similar to our early ones, in that we take a disease, talk about its pathology/ treatment, the role it has played in history, and then look toward the future. None of this politics crap we've been doing lately, just pure, unadulterated medical history. Although, we do complain about imperialism and also people being racist towards the C...

This is the second part of our episode about assassinations! This episode turned out very leftism-centric, with Salem covering Trotsky and Mia going over the assassination of Kim Jong Nam. There is a healthy dose of history in this episode, not just of the assassinations themselves, but also of the important historical events leading up to the murders, so if you feel like you need a refresher on S...

Most often on this podcast we talk about people's attempts to preserve and improve health and wellbeing. This month, however, we are switching gears as we embark on a two parter covering three historical figures whose powerful enemies wanted them dead. In this first part, we introduce the term ''assassin'' and discuss its etymology, and take a look at the life and death of one of Russia's most inf...

In this month's episode we tackle the concept of Stockholm Syndrome as follows: Mia talks about the original bank heist which led to the coinage of the term, and Salem follows up with another very famous case- that of Patricia 'Patty' Hearst. We briefly give our personal interpretation of both cases, after which we discuss some potential psychiatric explanations of the phenomenon: specifically tha...

A short and sweet episode for you this month- no mucking about with this one. We discuss flesh-eating bacteria, every tabloid's favourite germ to fear monger about. Salem covers the medical and biomedical part, specifically what causes flesh-eating disease, how the disorder manifests and what to expect if you end up having it, and Mia talks about how we came to learn more about this condition (and...

This month's episode focuses on the history of the use of animals in medical science. We start out with an overview of currently available study models, and a short discussion of why animal models remain irreplaceable at this point in time. Mia goes on into the history of animal use in research, with a special focus on the development of ethical considerations. Trigger warning here! There is some...

In this year's second Spookysode, we discuss the Dyatlov Pass incident, which refers to the mysterious death of nine experienced hikers in the Ural Mountains in 1959, as well as the phenomenon of alien abductions, focusing on the case of Betty and Barney Hill. Were the deaths of Igor Dyatlov and his schoolmates caused by a weather phenomenon, a freak accident, or perhaps something a lot more distu...

We are back just in time for Halloween with a spooky, spooky episode. This year, we've got for you the story of Karl Tänzler, who may be our least favourite scientist, and that of King Tut's curse. Enjoy, and happy Halloweeeeen! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In this episode we discuss typhoid fever and our new favourite scrappy lady: Typhoid Mary. We talk about the bacteria and why it's a lame pathogen, as well as it's mechanism of pathogenicity and infection, and then discuss what caused typhoid plagues and the way we've dealt with it previously. Lastly, we go over the story of Typhoid Mary, and even touch on some of the ethics surrounding her case....

In this episode we discuss the use of bugs (insects, arthropods, and the like) in medicine and medical research. Specifically, Mia serves us an overview of historical medical treatments using insect pulps and mashes, and Salem covers the modern use of bugs in medicine and research. As you may have heard, maggots are huge in wound treatment, but perhaps more surprisingly, helminths and spiders are...

This month we're coming at you with another good ol' Standard Format Episode, this time discussing rabies! In the medical part of the episode, we discuss the virus' sneaky mode of action and the resulting clinical presentation, after which we transition to the history part, in which Mia tells us about the various interpretations people have had about the virus throughout history and the ways they'...

Buildings collapsing and health risks! Very different episode from our usual, but we figured it'd be interesting to talk about natural disasters and how they affect human health, and what better point to start than earthquakes. We do also mention terrorism at points just because terrorism can obviously also lead to buildings collapsing, which in turn can lead to all of the same health consequences...

In the second part of Episode 35, we look at how eating disorders started transitioning from being seen as a spiritual calling to being seen as a medical condition. The medical establishment struggled with that one for a while, it turns out, with EDs being considered a result of an imbalance of the humours, a secondary symptom of other mental illnesses, an endocrinological disorder, and lastly, a...

We're back! We're starting this year strong with a two-parter, about eating disorders no less. In the first section, we go over a few common eating disorder types, epidemiology and potential causes, both genetic and psychosocial. Mia then takes a look at eating disorders in early history, and we talk about how 'disordered eating' is dependent on the current view on 'normal eating' as well as the r...

Cancer is a tough topic for a lot of us but, as it's a major cause of mortality and morbidity, as well as a fascinating topic both in terms of medical science and history, we've been wanting to make an episode about it for a while. We chose to start out with breast cancer because it's a well known and common cancer type, both now and throughout history. Salem talks about cancer generally, how it d...

Here is Part 2 of episode 33! Make sure to listen to Part 1 before you embark on the second part, in which we talk about ethics and future developments in the field! Image: Vincent Desiderio, Sleep (detail; 2008) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

This month's episode is about comas and follows what we call the Standard Format, where Salem starts off by giving a medical intro to whatever we're talking about, Mia talks about the history of comas, and the rest of the episode is a free for all (in this case we're talking about challenges when it comes to coma diagnosis and treatment, developments like machine learning, ethics and common miscon...

This month for the Halloween special we have two very scary, medically adjacent stories; that of a man eventually dubbed the Angel of Death, and that of the Tylenol Terrorist. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Ketamine, in addition to being widely used as a fast-acting anaesthetic, is also considered to have a lot of potential in curing treatment-resistant depression and drug and alcohol addiction. In this episode we talk about ketamine and its current uses, how it got to be such a popular anaesthtic, recreational use and potential future applications. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and...

This month's episode is about monkeypox. We talk about the virus, symptoms, transmission, a brief history and its links with the LGBTQ community, as well as a look into the future. Is it the next HIV epidemic? Is it the next Covid? Listen to find out! P.S. In the treatment section, Salem states that there are no approved treatments specifically for monkeypox, and rather that there are certain anti...

This month's episode is about torture and it's a bit different than the usual in that it's a bit more on the legal rather than the medical side. We start out by talking briefly about the history of torture, mostly focusing on its legality and use and then talk about torture today, and some specific examples. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://a...

Happy pride! In this episode we talk about the history of homosexuality, mostly how it was different from homosexuality today and how it was viewed in society. We also talk about the role that psychology played in its pathologization and the gay rights movement. Send us stuff to our PO box at: Mia Mulder Frejgatan 13, 114 79 Stockholm, Sweden See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Cal...

We've talked about blood transfusions, now it's time for its sister field: organ transplantations! Just like blood transfusions relied on ABO compatibility to work, organ transplantation scientists ran into the issue of immune system compatibility- something that is still giving us trouble. We talk about how the field evolved through time, and how the discovery of immunosuppressants contributed to...

Prions: what are they, how they were discovered, and what's their link with cannibalism? We talk about all of that in this month's episode. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

People have always known that blood plays an integral role in health and disease, and have developed lots of treatments around blood, including bloodletting. However, they quickly figured out that while getting blood out is easy, putting blood back in is a lot more difficult, partly because of the complexity of the circulatory system, because of a lack of tools, and lastly, because blood has a ten...